Just today a hail storm hit our area pretty bad. I planted all my vegetables on the 7th of this month and they were doing fabulous. My cucumbers were getting taller, so were my green beans. My tomato plants were doing pretty well and getting bigger but after today, it looks like someone went dancing in my garden. It looks like a war zone out there, my mesclun is just flat to the ground, the stems of most of my green beans and cucumbers have either snapped right off by the leaves or very close to it. My tomato plants look sad too. I am left with fear in my mind and so many questions that need answers. Will this make my harvest this year sparce?, will It regrow?, will It sprout back up or fluff back up?, how do I get it to keep growing?, do I snip off the stems on my cucumbers that are just barely hanging on or just let it be?, is this the end of all my labor?. I was so proud of what I've accomplished and I could about cry now seeing the damage this hail caused. On a scale from 1 being good and 10 being bad, I would say this is most likely a 5. Check out the photos below and please answer my questions if you can. I just need some hope that all my time, effort, sun burn and dirty dirt fingers wasn't in vain. Thank you guys. Oh and by snapped stems I mean, the part that holds the leaves, not the stem that goes into the ground. They appear to still be in the ground but the parts that hold the leaves, some are just in bad shape. Should I just pluck them all up and start again?. I had read that It would be best to apply a fungicide to my veggies to prevent diseases. I want to go the natural way and have a recipe for a garlic spray which is 10 garlic cloves and one pint of water, mixed in a blender, strained and then sprayed on. Would this be okay to do for my veggies?.
Your plants will recover. Just give them time. The roots are strong and that is just as important as the leaves. They will be looking great in no time. I don't apply anything to my plants, natural or otherwise. If your soil is healthy your plants will be also. Mulch is my friend. Others may have quit a different answer. I think of my garden like a wild land where insects, fungus, dead plant material, fallen trees, etc along with the growing plants form one big living organism. Mulch and more mulch is my answer to gardening in my veggie plots, woodland garden and perrenials beds.
Would it help if I added some fertilizer or manure to the soil around the plants that were affected (which were all of them really) and then add mulch to the tomato, green beans and cucumbers to help it heal quicker?. And do you suggest I snip off the branches that are barely holding on or prune some of them?
Sharalyn, that really doesn't look so bad--you were lucky that the plants were young and will recover more quickly. If the leaf is hanging on by a thread, go ahead and snip it off--the shredded stem might be an opening for insects or disease. Leave main stems--they will put out new leaves soon. I wouldn't fertilize now. The plants are stressed a bit, and giving them a boost now would just add to their confusion! When the new leaves start to appear (which will be soon) a very gentle application of fertilizer or manure would help. Mulching won't help plants heal quicker. Mulch has many uses (keeping down weeds, maintaining even soil moisture and temperature) but it isn't therapeutic. Your garden will recover and, in a month or so, you'll be wondering what to do with all those beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes.
I agree, they really don't look so bad. a little bruised and battered but not dying. leave them and trim off anything that appears to be dead/ decaying in a few days. No fertilizer yet, either. let them rest and recover for a few days.
I snipped off any that were shredded, the leaves looked holey or what not. It is looking a little bare but healthy. I'd rather have cut the leaf if it looked ripped then to risk having it become diseased. Thank you all for your replies. It is a peace of mind for me for sure. It was scary to see the hail come down and I couldn't do anything to help my garden. Had no idea the severe storm would cause hail to come down. Our van got dents, our play set for our kids the roof looks like someone attacked it with a paint ball gun and the garden. Ugh.
Just follow MG`s advice. The plants will bounce back quickly. We have all had our share of small disasters. Especially this year.
